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HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



No. 33— NOVEMBER, 1876. 



ARCH^OLOG-ICAL FRAUDS. 



BY 00L. 0HA8.VWHITTLESEY. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL SC 
OF" WASHINGTON 



Since the publication of our paper No. 9, 
in February, 1872, on the subject of inscrip- 
tions on stone, purporting to be ancient, and 
to represent aipnabefcal characters of the 
era of the mound builders, other such stones 
have made their appearance. The supply 
appears to be fully equal to the demand. 
When the Arab laborers in the excavations 
at Jerusalem ascertain what relics the explo* 
rers want, it is not long before they make 
their appearance. In England, there was, 
not long since, a manufacturer of ancient 
flint arrow points, some of them purporting 
to be of the era of the glacial drift. The 
workmen in the gravel pits of Abbeville, 
and above there in the valley of the Somme, 
to Amiens, have been accused of fabricating 
•elics to match those of Boucber-de-Perthes, 
iound in the diluvium. 

In the United States during the past half 
century,arch8eologists have felt an intense in- 
terest in the question, wheiher the mound 
builders had a written language. Of course, 
anything resembling letters, purporting to 
?ome from an ancient mound, excited uni- 
ersal attention, and imitators soon made 
leir appearance. I propose to notice more 
ally f han heretofore, the efforts of this genus 
,o solve the question of an ancient alphabet 
n North America. 

I do not imagine that exposure will put an 
|nd to their operations, so long as there are 
persons disposed to encourage them, 
jfrchaeology has now passed from the field 
of mystery and conjecture, to that of observed 
p acts, constituting a science. However it 
nay be with exuberant theorists, thorough 
•udentsdo not wish to be deceived. They 
I :e not prepared to receive suspicions relics 
j lerely because they are wonderful, or sus- 
,in their own predilections. A recent 
icurrence abroad, has given both a ludi- 
•ous and a serious aspect, to the matter of 



spurious inscriptions here. In 1847, nearly 
thirty years since, E. George Squier, the 
leading archaeologist of the United States, 
after a critical examination of the Grave 
Creek stone, pronounced it to be a modern 
fabrication. 

Professor Daniel Wilson, whose reputa- 
tion is we'l established in Europe and 
America, came to the same conclusion. In 
1859, Dr. E. H Davis, of Ohio, a life-long 
student of our relics, sustained the views of 
Mr. Squier. All these opinions hive been 
widely published in the United States. The 
archaeologists of Europe interested in Amer- 
ican antiquities, held a Congress at Nancy,in 
France, in July, 1875. A dissertation upon this 
stone was received and published in their 
proceedings. The writer seems to have 
convinced the Congress that the inscription 
is genuine, aud was made in letters of the 
ancient Canaanites, to which ref'jrence is 
made Delow. At the same meeting a copy 
of another stone, purporting to have been 
exhumed from a mound in Licking county, 
Ohio, was presented aod published, but was 
received with great doubt by the Congress. 

On this the characters are partly Heorew, 
very imperfectly reproduced, and in part a 
resemblance to some forms of Syriac and 
Armenian. 

Ibow give a list of all the engraved stones 
in the United States which I have seen, or 
of which there are copies accessible to me, 
for which there have been advocates in fa- 
vor of their genuineness, and of their lin- 
guistic value. 

First — From the Grave Creek mound, of 
which there will be found below six copies, 
all different and all purporting to be fac- 
similes. 

Second— Characters engraved upon a quartz 
ax, sketched by Dr.G. J. Farish for Professor 
Wilson, who regards them as genuine. Dis : 



L_vs> \ 



GRAVE CREEK STONE -STANDARD COPY. 



covered by Dr. Farish near the ocean beach, 
at Yarn outh Bay, Nova Scotia. (Not en- 
graved.) 

Third — A grooved stone ax or maul, first 
described by the late Dr. John Evans, of 
Pemberton, Npw Jersey, reproduced by Dr. 
Wilson in his "Prehistoric Man," pase 412. 
Engravings of this tool and its inscriptions 
are given below. 

Fourth— The "Holy Stone" of David 
Wyrick, purporting to have been exhumed 
by him from the central depression of an 
ancient circle of earth, near Newark, Lick- 
ing, county, Ohio, June 28th, 1860, now uni- 
versally regarded as spurious. On this the 
characters are Hebrew, of the twelfth cen- 
tuiy, and are easily read. (Not reproduced 
here). 

Fifth — An epitome of the Ten Com- 
mandments in the same Hebrew, with an 
efligy of Moses; taken by Mr. Wyrick froia 
the base of the great stone mound near Jack- 
town, Licking county, O., in November, 
1860. (Spurious, like No. 4. and not repro- 
duced). 

Sixth — A stone similar in shape to the 
Holy Stone, represented to have been taken 
from a mound in Licking county, O., by 
David M. Johnson, of Coshocton, O., in 
1867, delivered to N. Roe Bradner, M. D., 
of Philadelphia, and endorsed by the late 
Dr. Samuel Barlow. (Not reproduced here). 

This purports to have been found in a 
human skull, taken from the same mound 
as the Ten Commandments. 

Sevtntb — A grooved stone ax, or maul, 
sen* me in 1874 from Butler county, Ohio, 
about the size ot the Pemberton ax, "covered 
with English letters so rude and fresh as to 
deceive no one versed in antiquities. The 
purport of this inscription is that in 1689 
Captain H. Argill passed there, and secreted 
two hundred bags of gold near a spring. 
(Not engraved.) 

Eighth — A stone purporting to have been 
plowed up on the eastern shore of Grand 
Traverse Bay, Michigan. An imperfect 
cast of this stone is among the collections of 
the State of Michigan at the Centennial Ex- 
hibition. The original is in the cabinet of 
the Kent County Institute, Grand Rapids. 
Michigan; from which by the kindness of 
M. L. Coffinbury, Esq , one of the Curators, 
I have obtained a photograph. 

An engiaving of this copy will be found 
below. It is imperfectly executed, probably 
with a knife, and evidently of recent make, 
in which Greek, Bardic, and fictitious letters 
are jumbled together without order. 

Ninth — In 1875, a stone maul was discov- 
ered in an ancient mine pit near Lake Desor, 
Isle Royal, Lake Superior, on which were 
cut several lines that were at first regarded 
as letters. 



The Hon. S. W. Hill, of Marshalville, 
Mich., who superintended the excavations, 
has given me a description of this stone and 
its surroundings, with a drawing which I 
give in its proper rlace. 

It is evident there was here no attempt at 
an alphabet. I plac it in this list merely as 
a matter of interest to archaeologists, and with 
a view to present every ancient thing, which 
has even a remote resemb : ance to engraved 
characters. 

COPY OF THE GRAVE CREEK STONE — NO. 1. 
BY CAPTAIN EASTMAN, UNITED STATES ARMY. 




Captain Seth Eastman was a graduate and 
teacher of drawing at West Point. He was 
an accomplished draughtsman and painter 
detailed by the War Department to furnish 
the illustrations for ' Schoolcraft's Indian 
Tribes," published by the Government. 
This copy was made in his official capacity, 
with the stone before him, and therefore 
takes the first rank as authority. There are 
between the lines, twenty-two characters, 
but one is repeated three times and another 
twice, leaving only twenty. The figure be- 
low, if it has any significance, is undoubtedly 
pictorial. 

COPY NO. 2 — PROM THE AMERICAN PIONEER, 
MAY, 1843- 




This 



sketch by A. B. Boreman 



OTHER COPIES. 



John S. Williams, editor of the Pioneer. 
The sixth and seventh characters from the 
left in the second line are apparently so 
joined a^ to represent one. 

In that case the number of letters is (19) 
nineteen. The second letter from the left 
in the third due is so different from Captain 
Eastman's that no person would give tbem 
the same interpretation. 



COPY NO. 3 — USED BY MONSIEUR JO- 
MATID AT PARIS, 1843. 




From this copy M. Jomard considered the 
letters to be Lybian, a language derived 
from the Phonecian. At the right of the 
upper line, one is omitted, and another bears 
no resemblance to the original. The fifth 
character of the second line is equallv de- 
fective and objectionable. The second, 
fifth and sixth of the lower line are little 
better. In the rude profile of a human face 
beneath, an eye has been introduced, and the 
slender c r o^s lines attached to it have as- 
sumed the proportions of a dagger or sword. 
For the linguist or ethnologist this copy is 
entirely worthless. 



COPY NO. 4 — SENT TO PROFESSOR RAFN, CO- 
PENHAGEN, 1843. 




This is so imperfect and has so many ad- 
ditions,that it is little better than a burlesque 
upon the original. No one will be surprised 



that the learned Danish antiquarian could 
find in it no resemblance to the Runic, with 
which he was thoroughly. familiar. 




COPY NO. 5. — PROFESSOR DANIEL WILSON'S 
PRE-HISTORIC MAN, PAGE 409. 



This purports to be from an impression of 
the stone in wax. The differences from 
Captain Eastman's are similar to those of 
the American Pioneer, ISIo. 2. Something 
like au eye, a compressed mouth, and a 
pointed nose, give it an aspect materially dif- 
ferent from either Nos. 1 or 2. — number of 
separate characters (19) nineteen. Professor 
Wilson is not a believer in the genuineness 
of the inscription. 



GRAVE CREEK STONE — NO. 6, 




The above is the copy used by Monsieur 
Levy Bing, at the Congress of Nancy 
(Compte Rendu Tome 1, p. 218). 

In the upper line letters 3 and 4, number- 
ing from the left, are jchied together, in a 
manner not seen in any of the other copies. 

In the second line, letters 6 and 7 are sep- 
arated, which in the oiiginal are joined. 

No. 2 of the third line is so much dis- 
torted that it cannot be regarded as a copy, 
and No. 6 is little more accurate. 

The horizontal line below the cross is a 
fabrication, introduced here tor the first 
time. 

The number of single characters, not 
counting repetitions, is nineteen. 

Mons. Bing states that "after different 
combinations of the twenty-three letters I 
obtain the following result, that is, ei^Lt (8) 
Canaanite words, having complete sense; 



4 M. BING'S TRANSLATION. 



forming a pbrase which corresponds admira- 
bly with the symbol below the inscription." 

"This symbol isa naked sword horizontally 
directed Toward an arc, and supported upon 
the human bead imperfectly designed, which 
reposes u^on two long- arms." 

"This must represent the idea ot Sover- 
eignty and Conquest." 

In Roman characters, M. Bing's twenty- 
three Canaanite letters represent only nine, 
which he marshals into the eight words as 
follows: AT— TTGD— TTL— NGT— LGA 
— HDQ— AQQ. The translation of which 
is "What thou sayest, thou dost im- 
pose it, thou shinest in impetu- 
ous elan, and rapid chamois;" "but 
in better French:" "Thy orders are laws, 
thou shinest in thy impetuous elan, and 
rapid as the chamois." Monsieur Bing then 
adds: "I not only sustain but justify the au- 
thenticity of the twenty-three Canaanile or 
Phonecian letteis. composing the eight 
words of the Grave Creek inscription." 
Nothing can be more positive. 

In a note on page 224 he adds: "This in* 
scription must be of the third or second cen- 
tury before Christ, and the work of a Pho- 
necian, having resided in Greece a long 
time; where the Phonecians themselves 
were accustomed to write their own lan- 
guage from left to right." 

M! Bing is the author of a Canaanite Dic- 
tionary, in French, to which he has devoted 
a large oortion of his life. He regards the 
old Ilebiew as derived from the language of 
ancient Canaan. Nearly all writers who 
have discussed this relic, find some resem- 
blance in it to the Phonecian. 

In 1857, Monsieur Maurice Schwab made 
the first effort as a translator of this legend, 
in the Review Archseologique, for February 
of that year. His rendering is as follows: 
" The Chief of Emigration who reached 
these places (or this island), has fixed these 
statutes f jrever." 

M. Schwab was followed by M. Oppert, 
according to whom it reads thus: " The 
grave of one who was assassinated nere. 
May God to revenge him strike bis mur- 
derer, cutting off the hand of his existence." 
This may not in the closing line be cor- 
rectly translated from the French, but I 
have endeavored to make it literal, at the 
expense of sense and grammar. 

Mr. Schoolcraft was a believer in the 
genuineness of the mscriptior. relying upon 
the statements of Mr. Tomhnson the 
owner, and of Dr. Clemens, of Wheeling, 
both made in 1838. Mr. Schoolcraft gives 
the following analysis of what he regards as 
twenty-two separate characters on th s stone: 
There are in Gieek, 4; Etruscan, 4; North 
Runic, 5; anc fnt Gaelic, 6; Old Erse, 7; 
Phonecian, 10; Old British, 16. These 



languages have letters in common. There 
are characters which are found in March's 
Icelandic grammar, and also several which 
Dr. Piatt, in his history of Staffordshire, 
England, has shown to be on the ancient 
British " stick books." 

This was the mode of making records 
on square sticks of wood, in the days of the 
Druids. Their written or sculptured lan- 
guage was a modified Celtic, of which there 
are specimens, discovered in Wales. 
Three of the Grave Creek characters, have 
been thought to form part of the inscription 
on Digbton Rock, Rhode island, and three 
in the Norse Runic at Kingitoisoak, in 
Greenland, bearing date A. D. 1032. No 
one in this country has ventured upon a 
translation, of any of the various copies now 
before the public. 

Mr. Schoolcraft, who accepted the en- 
graving as ancient, and therefore genuine, 
was inclined to regard it as having some 
couneciion with the emigration of Madoc 
from Wales, in the 12th century, A. D. 
Monsieur Goppert's translation, to a limited 
extent, harmonizes with this theory. The 
age of trees growing upon the mound, indi- 
cated the 12th century, as the period of its 
abandonment by the mound builders. It is 
evident, however, they had been in occupa- 
tion many centuries before that time. If Ma- 
doc's fleet, and his followers, reached Amer- 
ica, and the valley of the Ohio, they found 
a numerous population already occupying 
the valley of the" Mississippi. Though few 
in number, and soon absorbed or destroyed 
by the native race, they could not have for- 
gotten their language, or their mode of 
making records, by " stick books." But aa- 
m tting such speculations to have some 
value, they bring no help to the theory that 
the mound builders had a written language. 
If they had, they were in possession of 
abundant means to perpeluate it. In their 
mounds there are numerous plates and arti- 
cles of copper, ^hell and polished slate, on 
which they would certainly have engiaved 
letters, if they hpd them. Their language, 
both oral and written, must have been m 
use over large tracts of country, and if put 
in the form of words, they must have been 
similar, in all the region extending from the 
Gulf ot Mexico to Lake Superior." 

The Hon. E. George Squier was the first 
to call in question the authenticity of this 
notorious stone, which he did in the second 
volume of the Transactions of the American 
Ethnoloaical Society. His reasons in general 
are, that it being conceded not to be picroiial 
or hieroglypbical, it belongs to some of the 
ancient and numerous alphabets of which 
the Phonecian is the early type. Therefore 
the mound builders had a' written language, 
or this inscription is of European origin. 



THE PEMBERTON AX. 



5 



The latter is within the scope of a possibil- 
ity. Some sturdy Celt may have crossed 
the ocean and found his way to the Ohio 
and become a chief, over whose rem; i ius 
they raised a sepulchral mound. But the 
first question is whether it is authentic. Dr. 
Clemens, in his first account of the opening; 
of the mound, makes no mention of this 
stone. The object of the opening was gain 
to the proprietor. The owner may himself 
have been imposed upon. It has no analogy 
to other inscriptions in North America, pur- 
porting to be ancient. Such are the prin :i- 
pal difficulties that occurred to Mr. Squier. 

On the other side, in addition to the 
statements of Mr. Tomlinson and Dr. Clem- 
ens, I have a letter from Mr. J. E Wharton, 
now of Portsmouth, O., dated May 20th, 
1876, iu which he states that he was pres- 
ent in 1838 while the mound svas being 
opened. The substance of his letter is that 
he saw Messrs. Clemens and Tomlinson at 
the time, and they were in the adit, which 
was being driven at the base of the mound. 

After several wheelbarrow-loads of earth 
had been brought from the vault at the 
center, in which were bones, beads, mica 
pipes, etc., among them a small oval stone 
was discovered, a little more than an inch 
by an inch and one-half across, on which 
were three rows of Phonecian letters, but 
some are partial Runic, and he concludes 
by saying: "I know there could have been 
no deception." 

.Mr. Tomlinson, in a letter to the Ameri- 
can Pioneer, received in May, 1843, states 
that it came from the upper vault about two 
(2) feet from a skeleton 

None of these gentlemen profess to have 
seen the stone imbedded in tne undisturbed 
earih of the mound. It was first seen by 
them on the barrows of shoveled earth, as 
the workmen brought them out along the 
adit. 

No one questions the sincerity of their be- 
lief that it is of the age of the mound itself, 
but none of them state, or can state, that he 
sa;v the stone in its place. Both myself and 
the late Isiael Dille, of Newark, 0 , saw the 
first of Wv rick's "Holy Stones" in his 
hands, at the place where he said he un« 
covered it, within an hour after he^ said it 
was found, and while it was still partially en- 
crustea with earth. It was seen the same af- 
ternoon by the Rev. Mr. McCarthy, who 
read the incription, and by a number of 
other citizens of Newark, including the late 
Dr. J. N. Wilson, all of whom then believed 
it to be ancient, and have so stated. They 
conceived Wyrick to be incapable of such a 
fraud. But when his second find occurred 
in November of the same year, embracing 
the ten commandments written in the same 



character, they began to be suspicious. Dr. 
Nichols, who was present, charged him 
with deception at the time. After his death 
proofs were found, showing that all the in- 
criptions were made by him with great labor 
from an old Hebrew Bible in his possession. 
Since that time a party in the same region 
has confessed to the fabrication of more in- 
scribed stonee, which may account 
for the appearance of those which 
came into the possession of Messrs. Barlow 
and Bradner. 

If the Grave Creek find was free from sus- 
picion as to its integrity, it has undergone 
so many mutations from transcribers and 
translators, that its value to ethnologists is 
gone. Before it can be used for scientific 
purposes, by those w ho confide in its genu- 
ineness they must establish its authenticity. 
It will not be sufficient for them to assume 
this, and call upon those who dissent to 
prove the contrary. The best authorities in 
the United States have condemned it during 
many years. The preponderances of proof 
as well as of probabilities are dec.'dedly 
against it. 

FAC- SIMILE OF ANOTHER ENGRAVED STONE 
PURPORTING TO BE FROM THE GRAVE CREEK 
MOUND. 




On this tlere is but one -figure that ap- 
proaches the form of a letter, as represented 
on the larger stone from the same mound. 
It is inserted with a view to present in this 
paper everything witnin my reach that bears 
upon the subject of ancient alphabetical 
characters. 

THE NEW JERSEY STONE AX ACCORDING TO 
WILSON — ONE-THIRD OF NATURE. 




6 



ANCIENT MAUL— ISLE ROYAL. 




These characters are cut in the groove and 
on the blade, as represented above. They 
aie neither Runic, Scandinavian, nor Angio- 
Saxon. It was first described by Dr. John 
Evans, of Jfemberton, N. J., near where it 
was found, prior to 1859. Dr. E. H. Davis 
who saw the stone, does not regard the in- 
scription as ancient. The characters had 
been retouched before he saw them. 

The chaiacters inserted below are of the 
size of nature. 



CHARACTERS ON THE PEMBERTON AX — SIZE 
OF NATURE. 

Y\1 




No one competent to judge of the ant'qui- 
ty of these figures raw tne stoaes until after 
they were injured, by recent scraping and 
cutting. The most singular feature of the 
characters, lies in a remote resemblance to 
those on the Moabite stone. The right hand 
one in the upper group, if bottom end up- 



ward, might represent the K of the North- 
men. Those parallel lines at the extreme 
right of the blade, are common in the picto- 
rial inscriptions of the red men. They may 
be seen on the "Turkey Foot" rock at the 
Maumee rapids; on the Newark inscriptions 
copied by Dr. Salisbury, and on the stone 
n aul from Isle Royal, described by Mr. 
Hill. 



In the fall of 1874, Mr. Hi 1 was engaged in 
clearing out an ancient mine-pit near Lake 
Desor, on I?l? Royal, of Lake Superior. 
Among the stone mauls, wh'ch are al - 
ways found in the works of the ancient 
copper miners of Lake Superior, was one 
on which were marks, which at first view 
were thought to resemble letters. 




Its weight is four pounds, length seven 
inches, and its mineral composition is a 
tough hard variety of trap, known on Lake 
Superior as "greenstone." 

Mr. Hill states that he took it from a depth 
of twelve feet below the surface. It is 
bruised at both ends by use, but is without 
a groove around the middle, such as are 
found on most of the mauls of these ancient 
miners. They may have held the grooveless 
ones in the hand, or may hive fastened them 
in a wooden handle. Many others were 
found in this pit. Trees of the usual size 
grow over the works, which are of the 
era of the mounds. The markings on this 
maul have no significance as alphabetical 
characters. 



GRAND TRAVERSE STONE. 




PAC SIMILE OF THE STONE FROM GRAND 
TRAVERSE BAY, MICH. 

This cut is inserted as a prevention against 
its being made the basis of dissertations at 
home and abroad. 

The stone is sand rock, half an inch 
thick, with both faces flat, and the edges the 
result of natural cleavage. In tex- 
ture it is of medium grain, rather 
gritty, and not very hard. The 
color is pale reddish brown, inclined 
to gray, owing to the presence of oxide of 
iron. Under a magnifier the engraving ap- 
pears fresh and recent, as though it had been 
done with a knife, in the hands of one who 
is far from an expert. The arrangement of 
the supposed signs or letters is confused 
and the cnaracters lack individuality. It is 
not easy to determine which was iLtended 
to be tbe upper side. 

Looking over the evidence as it now 
stands, it may be safely affiimed, as it was 
twenty years since by Mr. Glidden, that 
when the Spaniards overran America there 
was not in the United States, nor had there 
been, any wr tten or engraved alphabets in 
use. Nothing has as yet been discovered 1 



that is in advance of the usual pictorial or 
hieroglyphic mode of making records. The 
ancient Aztec characters found by Hum- 
boldt engraved upon an ax of jade, or 
chalcedony, in Mexico, were not letters but 
symbols. These are found in various de- 
grees of perfection a'l over North America, 
even among- the lowest and rudest people. 

A mere collection of letters from various 
languages is not an alphabet, Words cannot 
be formed or ideas communicated in that 
way. When a people adopt the alphabet- 
ical signs ot another they adopt the general 
style of the characters, and more often the 
characters in detail. Such signs had al- 
ready an arrangement into syllables and 
words which had a known significance. A 
jumble of letters from a variety of nations 
bears internal evidence, that the author did 
not have an intelligent meaning to convey 
to others, and did not comprehend the lan- 
guages from which the letters were selected. 

In the case of the Grave Creek stone the 
various and contradictory attempts to ex- 
tract a meaning from it, show that it belongs 
to no rational record of events, and is 
therefore not yet brought within the scope 
of historical inscriptions. 



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